Cyberpunk 2077 money making and how to make money fast in Cyberpunk 2077
Several ways to earn eddies quick.
Making money in Cyberpunk 2077 is valuable for a lot of different reasons.
If there's one thing that you need to know when first getting into Cyberpunk 2077, it's that money - also known as eddies in Night City - is king.
Sometimes it's all about getting the best clothes, for some it's the weapons and sometimes you'll just need to get as much money as you can for quests that require it.
No matter the reason, money is definitely something you should invest your time in and, thanks to the incredible amount of things to do in Night City, it's easy to rake in the cash. So, with that in mind, how do you make money fast in Cyberpunk 2077?
On this page:
For more Cyberpunk 2077 system explainers, we have pages on XP and levelling and improving your Street Cred.
The easiest to make money with no preparation in Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk's main campaign is rather short in comparison to CD Projekt's Red other game, The Witcher 3. But it can easily bulk out if you decide to do Side Jobs and Gigs, little quests and jobs that are given to V which are useful for both earning EXP and money.
Some of these gigs only take as little as a few minutes to do, so if you're desperately in need of some money fast, we recommend you taking a gig on to earn some extra eddies to line your pockets with.
Some of these gigs and side jobs can be found in your journal, but some are only given to you if you're near the location of the quest in the first place. That's where your Map comes in. Open the Map up, and then set your legend to showing you jobs only.
You'll know when you're in the right setting because only jobs have that same, iconic yellow of Cyberpunk 2077.
Once you find a job that looks interesting, track it and then head on over to the location to start it.
Afterwards you'll be rewarded with eddies though, depending on whether you're doing a gig or side job, the rate of these eddies can differ, but most gigs or side jobs give you a rate of 1500 or more.
Some will offer a higher rate, but it's impossible to tell until you start the side job. If there's more to do than 'go X to get Y' then the possibility of getting over the 1500 eddie mark is likely.
Another thing to be aware of is the balance of loot and eddies that you get in quests. Sometimes the eddies may be small, but the loot you receive is highly valuable - e.g rare weapons and clothes, and can be sold at around the 500-1000 eddies mark.
Some side job gigs that stick out in giving you at least 3000 in eddies - and sometimes new items to go with it - are the following jobs:
- The Gig - earns you new cybernetics and 3400 eddies
- Tune Up - 3000 eddies
- Epistrophy - each side job from this mission gives at least 1000 eddies and there's 7 side jobs altogether. You also get 3400 eddies at completion, earning you around the 12k mark altogether
There are a lot more, but these three quests stick out the most as you can pretty much find and complete them the moment you start Act 2.
Other ways to make money in Cyberpunk 2077, from exploits to selling items
As well as the above method to make money, there are technically 'better' methods, which require some preparation before hand.
Crafting and selling
Cyberpunk 2077's crafting system is rather simple to understand, which is what makes it an incredibly powerful tool if you're interested in getting both EXP and money by creating weapons and mods that will sell well.
Even if you aren't all that invested in levelling up your crafting, it still has the potential to help you get some serious eddies.
So, how to invest in crafting? Go to your crafting page and you'll see a number of different schematics. Focus on the green schematics, whether it be weapons, clothes, or something else - just focus on the quality and rarity.
Once you see an item that will get you some profit - click on the item and it should show you the monetary value at the bottom right corner - then craft it.
Not only will you get around about the 160-270 range for creating uncommon/rare weapons, which can be lucrative if you craft a handful of weapons and/or quickhacks, but you'll earn crafting experience that'll help you level up fast. The best of both worlds!
Once crafted, sell the item(s) to your local vendor and repeat until you've got some serious eddies to spend.
But remember, if you decide to go down the crafting route, it can be pretty time-consuming if you haven't picked up enough components or junk to dissemble. The eddies are worth it, of course, but getting the materials in the first place isn't going to be a walk in the park, either.
The dissemble vending machine drinks exploit
Despite the title, and the fact that it's a popular method among many gamers right now, this 'exploit' isn't all that it's cracked up to be. First we'll explain what the exploit is, and then we'll get into the nitty gritty on why it's an okay exploit, but you should really focus your time and energy on gigs and side jobs instead.
It's rather simple: find a vending machine and buy a drink for 10 eddies. Then dissemble the parts, which can sell for a range of 30-50 eddies, depending on the rarity of the components you get given. Now, you can either decide to go to other vending machines within the city, or stick to one vending machine and rinse and repeat after saving and reloading a couple of times to get the drinks back.
This may seem the easiest way to get eddies, but it's also the most time consuming as the quantity and quality of components that you get back from each drink varies - meaning you won't always get the best amount of eddies back. For example, take this drink below.
It costs 10 eddies, and so when you dissemble it there's a high chance you'll receive about 2-6 common and uncommon parts. Dissembling drinks will rarely get you above the uncommon rarity, hence why this exploit is an 'okay' method rather than '10/10 do it immediately' as far as we're concerned.
So let's say you've done this for a lot of drinks and have around about the 300 mark when it comes to uncommon/common components. You'll head to a vendor or a drop-off point - the nearest vendor that's near a good selection of vending machines locations are all in V's apartment area, so we'd recommend doing this exploit there rather than anywhere else in Night City - and sell all the components that you have.
It sounds simple and easy. But here's how much we personally received by selling all 334 of my uncommon parts (2672 eddies):
A measly amount of money, which you could make in the space of 5-10 minutes by completing NCPD gigs and side jobs. It's a fun exploit and it can get you cash if you're patient, but really, we'd recommend just sticking to the side quests of Cyberpunk 2077, or take up crafting weapons instead. (It's also possible this 'exploit' will be patched out eventually - so maybe use it while you can!)
Looting in Cyberpunk 2077
As a great video game character once said, "loot the bodies". It's the same here for Cyberpunk 2077 because, as indicated by the different coloured boxes that indicate the rarity of the loot, some loot will really help you put some spare eddies in your pocket.
For a quick example on the range of eddies for your loot, you can sell a common weapon for around 50 eddies, whereas an ultra rare weapon can be sold in between the 2.5k-5k mark. The disparity is to be expected.
Much like crafting, looting bodies isn't exactly glamorous, but can be rewarding if you're willing to put the effort in.
After all, there are two pros to looting: you can find rare loot and sell it off straight away for some serious eddies or, much like we mentioned above, you can use the loot - which can be weapons, clothes, junk, practically anything you pick up - to disassemble and create some incredible items to sell off.
No matter what you do with loot, it's a win/win situation.
The only thing that you need to be wary of is carrying too much loot, as you'll end up getting over encumbered.
As you can see, there are a ton of different ways for you to get the eddies you want and need - but no way beats than just doing your best with the side jobs and gigs that are scattered around Night City.
It can be time-consuming after a while, yes, but if you're after the best of the best then doing these jobs are 100% worth it.
For more Cyberpunk 2077 system explainers, we have pages on XP and levelling and improving your Street Cred.